In a world that usually rushes previous quiet moments, one retired Canadian is ensuring you realize you aren’t alone, providing a easy act of kindness by way of a free listening service.
Paul Jenkinson travels throughout Canada, providing strangers a protected area to talk their hearts. No remedy, no recommendation—simply time, presence, and compassion.
Creating human connection by way of free listening service
Paul’s venture, I Will Pay attention, is grounded within the perception that everybody deserves to be heard.
He units up two chairs and a small desk in public areas, inviting passersby to take a seat and discuss.
What unfolds is usually surprising—vulnerability, reflection, and human connection.
“I’m there as a fellow human to make connections,” Paul instructed the host of CBC Information’ As It Occurs. “I simply create that protected area for them, slightly bit just like the stranger on the airplane that you simply’re by no means going to see once more.”
Backed by his a long time of labor as a registered social employee in Nova Scotia and his expertise advocating for elder care, Paul brings an empathetic calm to every assembly.
A lifetime of expertise behind the service
Now 70 years previous, Paul gives greater than a chair and a listening ear.
His personal life has been marked by bodily ache, divorce, and the devastating lack of his daughter. These private struggles permit him to narrate to others on a deeper degree.
Nonetheless, Paul doesn’t place himself because the professional in anybody’s story.
As an alternative, he listens with intention, permitting others to guide the dialog. This emotional assist service is rooted in humility.
“I believe they’re curious, for positive. ‘Who is that this older man?’” he explains. “Folks shuttle a number of instances, surreptitiously because it had been, getting some braveness to return and sit down.”
The simplicity of emotional assist by way of free listening service
What makes this free listening service so highly effective is its simplicity. There’s no script, no time restrict, and no price.
Folks can speak about something—from hardships to small joys, volunteer efforts, and random ideas.
Paul gives confidentiality and solely breaks that belief if somebody shares ideas of harming themselves or others.
That promise of security, mixed with the data that they probably received’t see him once more, provides many the braveness to open up.
These moments of sharing remind individuals of their value and the worth of being heard—a delicate however impactful type of psychological well being assist.
Bringing a listening ear throughout Canada
Paul doesn’t keep in a single place for lengthy. With no everlasting house, he strikes from province to province, wherever he’s invited.
The journey is versatile, guided by gives of locations to remain quite than a set itinerary.
Donations from GoFundMe and Patreon assist cowl his journey bills. Nonetheless, the mission stays easy: deliver his free listening service to as many individuals as doable.
A volunteer with a goal
Paul sees himself as a part of one thing greater—a quiet motion of individuals providing time and empathy as a type of service.
“Right here I’m. I’ve received abilities. I’d prefer to make them accessible,” he mentioned. “There’s 1,000,000 hours of volunteering that’s carried out in Canada regularly, and I’m simply one in every of a lot of these sorts of volunteers.”
This selfless perspective grounds his work. He’s not searching for recognition however hoping to remind others that emotional assist companies don’t all the time require professionals. Generally, they only want somebody prepared to pay attention.
The influence of Paul’s free listening service
Paul’s initiative reveals that moments of human connection nonetheless matter, even in a fast-moving world.
His presence provides individuals area to replicate, heal, and easily be themselves—if just for a short while.
And that’s the center of the free listening service: to not repair, however to witness, to be current, and to depart individuals feeling slightly lighter than after they arrived.
Watch Paul Jenkinson share his inspiring journey on CBC Information, the place he talks about his cross-country free listening service—a protected, judgment-free area the place individuals can communicate freely and really feel really heard:
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